The island of Bolga, just visible off the starboard bow during the trial voyage onboard ‘Skårungen’ in May 2022, is an important traditional landmark that may have featured in Viking Age seafaring itineraries from the Arctic towards southern Scandinavia and mainland Europe. Credit: Journal of Archeological Method and Theory / Jarrett Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Greer Jarrett has spent the past three years sailing Scandinavia’s waterways in historically accurate Viking ships. The voyages aren’t part of some reenactment fantasy or preparation for an upcoming film role. Instead, the archeologist wants to show that exploration based on historical knowledge can help us better understand how an ancient culture lived, explored, and interacted with the world around them. Last year, Jarrett contributed to research suggesting the Vikings participated in more complex trading routes with Indigenous Arctic tribes than previously believed. After his latest excursions along the eastern coasts of Norway, Jarrett now says his team believes that rather than solely relying on concentrated trading outposts, Norse sailors frequently utilized a decentralized network of ports on the region’s numerous islands and peninsulas. Their argument is detailed in a study published earlier this month in the Journal of Archeological Method and Theory. Over 3,100 miles at sea Since 2022, Jarrett and his intrepid crews have navigated multiple voyages aboard an open, square-rigged clinker boat built in the style of those used during the Viking Age (roughly 800–1050 CE). Their first trip traveled to and from the Arctic Circle from Trondheim, a common route for sailors after the Norwegian city’s founding in 997 CE. The researchers have since sailed more than 3,100 miles along historic Viking trade routes, as well as into the Baltic Sea and the Kattegat waterway separating Sweden from Denmark. These expeditions, coupled with interdisciplinary analysis and evidence, has provided substantial evidence that the original Viking travelers journeyed further from land than historians long theorized. However, these trips weren’t undertaken with the aid of a compass, sextant, or even a map. Instead, the Norse relied on mental maps informed by cultural myths tied to coastal landmarks. “Examples include Viking stories about the islands Torghatten, Hestmona and Skrova off the Norwegian coast,” Jarrett explained in a Lund University profile. “The stories serve to remind sailors of the dangers surrounding these places, or of their importance as navigation marks.”  These tales were passed down through generations to help seafarers, or what Jarrett refers to as a “Maritime Cultural Mindscape.” He also conducted interviews with present-day fishermen and sailors about various routes known to have been utilized in the 19th and early 20th century, before motorized boats were common. The Norðvegr, with the coastal regions mentioned in the text, the tracks of the project’s two trial voyages (black and white dashed lines), and the traditional sailing corridor along the west coast of Norway (blue shaded zone), known in Old Norse as leið. Credit: Journal of Archeological Method and Theory Coastal trips After previously demonstrating that Viking vessels can handle open oceanic waters even in tough conditions, Jarrett was determined to explore their capabilities close to land and among the fjords. He and his team sailed two trips along Norway’s western coast towards the Lofoten Islands, an archipelago in the Arctic Circle. While their rigging and ship were modeled after ancient technology, researchers also utilized digital geospatial reconstructions of the region to envision the surrounding landscapes as they would have existed at the time of the Vikings. According to Jarrett, the daily challenges are “just as great, but not as obvious” as ocean sailing. These included underwater currents and katabatic winds—the wind generated as a mountain’s dense, cool, high-altitude air flows into a lower elevation. Weather proved an additional challenge, particularly the cold temperatures in the Lofoten Islands. “Our hands really suffered. At that point I realized just how crucial it is to have a good crew,” Jarrett said. Extensive socio-cultural knowledge also didn’t keep the voyages free from danger, either. At one point, the boat’s mainsail yard snapped, forcing Jarrett and his crew to improvise a solution using only Viking-era materials. “We had to lash two oars together to hold the sail, and hope that it would hold,” he said. After returning home, Jarrett and colleagues combined their data with historical documentation and cultural knowledge. It was clear to them that the numerous environmental and oceanographic variables made coastal journeys difficult in their own special set of ways. “With this type of boat, it has to be easy to get in and out of the harbor in all possible wind conditions. There must be several routes in and out,” he said. “Shallow bays are not an issue because of the shallow draft of the boats. Getting far up the narrow fjords, however, is tricky. They are difficult to sail upwind with a square rig, and the boats are sensitive to katabatic winds.” Continuities in boatbuilding traditions from the Viking Age are evident in the shape and rig of this fyring, a smaller type of Åfjord boat similar to the vessels associated with non-elite Viking Age farmsteads. Credit: Tora Heide Viking havens His resulting study argues it is highly unlikely that Vikings only docked at well-established, populated towns and harbors. Instead, sailors probably relied on a decentralized network of smaller port hubs located farther out to sea that Jarrett refers to as “havens.” “A lot of the time, we only know about the starting and ending points of the trade that took place during the Viking Age. Major ports, such as Bergen and Trondheim in Norway, Ribe in Denmark, and Dublin in Ireland,” said Jarrett. “The thing I am interested in is what happened on the journeys between these major trading centers.” Jarrett has now identified four potential sites along the Norwegian coast that could have served as Viking havens. He hopes that archeological teams may soon investigate these areas to see what they might unearth. Evidence could include jetty and mooring post remnants, ballast stones, boatbuilding pits, temporary shelters, and artifacts indicating local commerce. At the same time, he acknowledges that these suggestions are starting points, not necessarily final destinations. “Due to the nature of the evidence, the methodology presented here can uncover potentials, but not realities,” Jarrett and the study’s co-authors write. “The list of possible Viking Age havens… is intended as a working document, which can shape and be shaped by future archaeological surveys and excavations.”

36 fossil fragments from vertebrate animals were documented by researchers. Credit: Quaternary Environments and Humans Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. For years, archeologists assumed the ancient Homo erectus population that lived on present-day Java existed in general isolation from nearby island relatives. However, a pair of fossilized skull fragments recently found off the Javanese coast are helping experts recontextualize the lives of the region’s H. erectus populations as they existed around 140,000 years ago. According to a study published May 15 in the journal Quaternary Environments and Humans, life for the Javanese H. erectus wasn’t always as lonely as we thought. Today, Indonesia consists of multiple islands between Asia and Australia, but that hasn’t always been the case. Beginning roughly 2.6 million years ago, the larger area has occasionally existed during periods of lower ocean levels as a larger, unified lowland landmass known as Sundaland. While H. erectus fossils have previously been found on Java itself, none were known to exist further outward in areas like the Madura Strait, which separates the islands of Madura from Central Java. A: The Sunda Shelf of Southeast Asia, with the Indonesian archipelago. Box indicates the position of map B. B: Eastern Java, the Madura Strait, the Solo River, Surabaya and other sites mentioned in the text. Box indicates position of map C. C: The Madura Strait north of Surabaya, with the sand extraction area and the BMS land reclamation. Map data: GEBCO and ALOS / Credit: Quaternary Environments and Humans That all changed thanks to over 176.5 million cubic feet of sand. The massive amount of sediment was dredged over 2014 to 2015 as part of an Indonesia land reclamation project, but it soon became clear that the sand also contained valuable historical remains. Scouring the material ultimately yielded around 6,000 fossil specimens from ancient fish, reptiles, and mammals–including the unexpected pair of H. erectus skull fragments. According to Harold Berghuis, study co-author and an archeologist at Leiden University in the Netherlands, their team’s discoveries are “truly unique.” “The fossils come from a drowned river valley, which filled up over time with river sand [dating to] approximately 140,000 years ago,” he said in an accompanying statement. Berghuis described that era as the “penultimate glacial period.” Earth’s Northern Hemisphere was so populated with glaciers, that the global sea level averaged nearly 1,100 feet lower than it does today. Because of this, Sundaland in the time of H. erectus greatly resembled the African savannah of today—largely dry grassland broken up by major rivers surrounded by narrow strips of forests. “Here they had water, shellfish, fish, edible plants, seeds and fruit all year round,” said Berghuis. Sundaland also featured a variety of animals, including multiple species of elephants, rhinos, and crocodiles. Strikingly, the bones the team found even have evidence of butchery by H. erectus. “Among our new finds are cut marks on the bones of water turtles and large numbers of broken bovid bones, which point to hunting and consumption of bone marrow,” Berghuis added. While this contrasts with earlier Javanese H. erectus populations, it had previously been documented in more modern human species who lived on the Asian mainland. According to the study’s authors, this indicates that Sundaland’s H. erectus may have learned those techniques from them. “This suggests there may have been contact between these hominin groups, or even genetic exchange,” theorized Berghuis.

Turkish authorities have spent decades combatting illegal smuggling of antiquities. Credit: Anadolu Agency Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Here’s a tip: Do not livestream your illegal excavation of Roman ruins near a Turkish castle. Turkey’s authorities and actual archeologists do not approve of the activity—even if you happen to uncover a 2,000-year-old mosaic dedicated to the ancient Greco-Roman concept of luxury and decadence. Law enforcement in Zile, Turkey recently arrested four individuals, including a father and son, for allegedly attempting just such a project. Along with livestreaming their unsanctioned dig, the team reportedly also later shared videos of the endeavor on social media. Police took the group into custody at the Zile castle, roughly 150 miles south of the Black Sea. The site is  best known forthe Battle of Zela in 47 BCE, where Julius Caesar famously declared, “Veni, vidi, vici” (“I came, I saw, I conquered”) after defeating the forces of Pharnaces II, ruler of the kingdom of Pontus. Apart from hosting one of the most famous lines in all of ancient history, Zile also served as an important commercial and trading hub for the Roman empire, and included a theater currently undergoing (legal) excavation. It was roughly 220 yards away from this project that the alleged trespassers attempted to uncover and presumably remove the 95-square-foot floor mosaic. According to Turkiye Today, authorities also found the group attempting to hide their work underneath sacks. Photos indicate the circular mosaic’s top portion is no longer there, but its bottom half clearly features a bust of Tryphe (ΤΡΥΦΗ in Greek). While sometimes more charitably defined as a blend of concepts like luxury and elegance, Tryphe also functioned as a state-sponsored ideology of overindulgence, extravagance, and flaunting one’s wealth. Its verb, tryphao, means “to live in excess or luxury,” and Tryphon at one point even served as a royal epithet during the Ptolemaic dynasty. Tryphe as a concept continued into the ensuing Roman Empire, as evidenced by the recent find in Zile. Speaking with the Turkish news outlet Anadolu Agency, the head of the theater’s ongoing excavation project, Murat Tekin, explained that the discovery offers further evidence of the Roman city’s cultural prominence and affluence. “This mosaic must be related to the ruins in the lower city of Zile. It was known that Zile was an important center in ancient times with its ancient theater, castle, stepped tunnel, rock tomb and the Sakaia Festival,” explained Tekin, adding that the festival’s legacy lives on today as the annual Zile Fair. Although more analysis is needed to more accurately date and assess the mosaic, Tekin said its discovery will likely help to expand the excavation’s scope and aid experts to better contextualize Zile’s history. The Turkish government, historians, and archeologists have spent decades attempting to rein in the black market antiquities trade. Earlier this year, authorities arrested a group after allegedly finding a smuggled medieval mummy in their home. In 2022, a single raid generated the arrest of 162 suspected smugglers across 38 provinces. During that bust, nicknamed “Operation Heritage,” one truck alone contained 1,736 stolen artifacts destined for a British auction house.

In 2022, archeologists unearthed what appeared to be the oldest intact reed boat. It was found buried in a sediment-filled former channel of the Euphrates River, near the ancient city of Uruk, in the Mesopotamian floodplain of what is now Iraq.“The findings provide valuable insights into the utilization of Uruk's waterways, the evolution of its floodplain, and the broader processes that shaped early urbanization in Mesopotamia,” according to the conference paper.Analyzing the Ancient BoatAlthough the researchers had a rough estimate of the era the boat probably hailed from, they had difficulty giving it a more exact date, because its materials were contaminated by bitumen.So, a group of scientists from the German Archaeological Institute turned to different technique, they explained when they announced the boat’s age at a European Geosciences Union meeting. They tapped into multiple materials surrounding it, rather than dating the reeds themselves.“The excavation revealed that the boat was embedded in sand layers, surrounded by fine-grained floodplain sediments that are rich in artifacts and faunal remains,” according to the paper.Understanding the Boat's AgeThat collection of clues meant they could use multiple methods to home in on the boat’s age. On the sediment, they applied a technique to determine when it was last exposed to sunlight. On the bone fragments, they turned to the radiocarbon dating that they had originally intended to perform on the boat itself. And on the ceramic fragments, they used several pieces of archeological evidence to see where they fit on the timeline.Taken together, these pieces of evidence put the boat’s age at about 3,600 hundred years — give or take a few hundred years in either direction. Knowing the boat’s age allows archeologists to put it into context with other discoveries from that era.Mesopotamia SocietyRemnants of comparable craft have been found in Kuwait and Egypt. But unlike them, this Mesopotamian boat remains relatively intact. Archeologists are considering restoring it, but few, if any people, have expertise.Although Mesopotamia, often called the “Cradle of Civilization” is well studied — from the frequency its citizens kissed to the way they recorded business transactions — many mysteries remain — including why its society faded away.Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:EGU General Assembly 2025. Timing of the First Mesopotamian Boat Unearthed in a Euphrates Paleochannel near Uruk (Iraq)Before joining Discover Magazine, Paul Smaglik spent over 20 years as a science journalist, specializing in U.S. life science policy and global scientific career issues. He began his career in newspapers, but switched to scientific magazines. His work has appeared in publications including Science News, Science, Nature, and Scientific American.